Discussing career aspirations with your peers ad-nauseam goes with the turf of being in an MBA program. So, naturally, this is a question that I’ve been asked a lot recently: What will you want to do next? A continuum of dialogue, made possible via Slack, had already begun before I even stepped foot on campus. But with in-person instruction (for now), I am meeting classmates and peers face-to-face and talking about my #goals on a daily basis. I mostly speak from the heart, which is to say that I do not follow any particular recipe for dream-scribing my future . In these conversations, I try to relate what I am good at to my interests and what society (or a tiny part of it) needs right now.
Borrowing from the Japanese concept of Ikigai, I have taken to this framework of thinking about career choices. The overall theme (privilege) in my thinking is that I aspire to a career which carries a meaning or some purpose. The umbrella words for this include “tech for good” or “social enterprise” and “impact investing”. This is exactly what I wrote about in my admissions essays, so the fact that I am still consistent with these ideals makes me feel good too. However, recently I heard a piece from Sam Harris where he says that searching for meaning in life “is yet another [made up] thing that we tell ourselves, a narrative to fit into the overall story of who we are and what we do”. A small dose of Buddhist realism, thanks to Mr. Harris.
What do you think about when you think of meaning in your life? What drives you everyday? Please share it with me. Remember, sharing is caring :)